Mail sorting



June 16, 1959 T.- PATRICK MAIL SORTING Filed Feb. 14, 1958 HJ Parl'ck. l INVENTOR.

BY @d M.

vATTOFNTQY United States Patent O MAIL SORTING Ted Patrick, Miami, Fla.

Application February 14, 1958, Serial No. 715,471

5 Claims. (Cl. 229-68) This invention relates to mailing envelopes, and more particularly, to envelopes of the type adapted to facilitate sorting thereof.

Daily mail received in post oflices must first be sorted according to state and city for transmission and distribution to the addressees. The sorting of the rnail is usually performed manually by skilled postal clerks who must handle each letter separately in order to read the address on each envelope for sorting and segregating the envelopes according to their proper destination for transmission thereto. This sorting operation, however, is time consuming, costly and inefficient in view of the ever increasing volume of mail received and handled every day.

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a mailing envelope of improved construction V.characterized by novel destination indicating means particularly adapted for facilitating automatic, manual or mechanical sorting of envelopes.

It is further the purpose of the present invention to provide an envelope having novel destination indicating means for facilitating the sorting of envelopes according to the parts of a country they are to be transmitted and thereby expediting the handling of large quantities of mail in the shortest possible time at a minimum of cost.

A mailing envelope constructed in accordance with the present invention is provided with destination indicating means formed along an edge thereof in the form of a plurality of slots or perforations having an open end in said edge, and with one of the slots having disposed adjacent to said edge and having closed ends for representing the particular state of the addressee for automatic sorting thereof.

These and other features of the instant invention are described in detail below in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which like numerals designate like parts, and in which:

Figure 1 is a rear view of an unfolded blank of an envelope embodying the present invention; and

Figure 2 is the face view of the folded blank of the envelope of Figure 1. I

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the mailing envelope illustrated in the drawing as an embodiment of the present invention, comprises a sheet of flexible material, such as paper and the like, in the form of an unfolded blank, indicated generally at 10, having a substantially rectangular front sheet or side 12, and a bottom tlap 14 having the same length as the front sheet 10 and extending from the bottom marginal edge, indlcated by the line 16, for folding thereover to form the back sheet or side of the envelope. The front sheet` is further formed with a sealing flap 18 extending from a top marginal edge, indicated by a dotted line 20, for folding thereover, and with lside or end flaps 22, 24 extending oppositely from the respective side or end marginal edges, indicated by the dotted lines 26 and 28, for folding thereover. The-top and bottom flaps 14 and 18 are formed with gummed edge portion, as indicated at 2,890,825, `Patented June 16, 1959 rice 30, by an adhesive placed thereon for attaching or cementing to side aps 22 and 24, respectively, when folded thereover in accordance with conventional practice in the construction of envelopes. Of course, it is understood that the sealing flap 18 will not be sealed to the side and bottom aps 22, 24 and 14 until the contents have been inserted in the envelope. Also the front sheet 12 may be formed with the bottom marginal edge 16 having a greater length than the top marginal edge 20, and with the side marginal edge 26 at the right hand side of the envelope, as shown in Figure l, being inclined downwardly outwardly so that when the envelopes are stacked together, they will be placed with their corresponding four marginal edges in proper alignment.

Now, in accordance with the specific teachings of the invention, the front sheet 12 is provided with a plurality of open ended slots or perforations 32 of substantially rectangular shape disposed laterally vertically to the bottom marginal edge 16 and spaced at regular intervals close to each other along the full length of the bottom marginal edge 16. The slots 32 disposed on the front sheet 12 are adapted to extend through the bottom marginal edge 16 into the back iiap or sheet 14 to form a plurality of complemental or mating slot portions 34 extending symmetrically from the bottom marginal edge 16. Hence, when the back ilap 14 is folded over the front sheet 12, along the bottom marginal edge 16, each of the slots 32 in the front sheet 12 will overlie and register with its corresponding slot portion 34 in the back sheet 14. The slots 32 are thus adapted to be open at their lower ends coinciding with the bottom marginal edge 16 of the envelope thereby forming notches therein. The number of slots 32 provided in the envelope is determined by the number of states, the District of Columbia, and any territories belonging to United States, which the slots 32 represent. For example, the first of the slots 32 designates Alabama, the second slot Arizona and so on. Also, the slots 32 and 34 may be formed in the vertical or end edges 26, 28 if the bottom edge 16 or the length of the envelope does not provide sufficient spaces for required number of slots. The front and back sheets 12 and 14 are further each formed with a perforated unslotted portion by having one of the slots 32 formed with a closed bottom end by extending short of the edge 16, thereby being formed as an aperture or hole, as indicated at 36 in the front sheet 12 and at 37 in the back sheet 14. The perforation or aperture 36 with its corresponding aperture 37 in the back sheet 14 is positioned or located longitudinally of or along the bottom marginal edge 16 in accordance with the alphabetical order of the states. In other words, if the enclosed slot or hole 36 represents the state of Alabama, it will be first 4in the series andif it represents the state of Florida, it will be the ninth one as shown in Figure l.

In operation of the sorting of the mail, a bunch of envelopes are stacked together in va vertical position and with the slotted bottom edges 16 disposed at the top so that the open ends of the slots 32 are directed upwardly. All the envelopes having the closed ended slot or hole 36 `in the same location intended for the same state may be automatically pulled by the insertion of a relatively stiff wire or the like through the laterally aligned closed slots 36, while the remaining envelopes having an open ended slot in the same location will remain in the bunch. The operation is repeated until all the envelopes have been sorted. It should be understood that during the sorting operation, the postal clerk or operator is not required to read the address written on each envelope but merely to insert the wire through each of the slots 32 and by raising the wire upwardly, the envelopes having the same destination will be automatically picked and separated from the rest. Thus, with one move, a number of envelopes may be picked up at the same time and be segregated in different groups according to the state that they are destined.

In addition to the three vertically spaced parallel lines 38 usually imprintedat the upper left hand corner of the front sheet 12 to be filled in by the addressor with his name and address, and the name and address of the addressee usually written in the central portion of the front sheet, as indicated at 40, the front sheet 12 may have imprinted thereon at the right-hand side portion and parallel to the edge 26 the name of the specific state that the envelope is intended, as indicated at 42, for assisting the user when purchasing the same usually arranged in bunches to choose at a glance the envelopes for the particular state desired Without having to determine the state from the location of the closed ended slot 36 along the edge 16. Also, the name of the state corresponding to the position or location of the slot 36 along the bottom edge 16 may be imprinted in reverse and parallel to the bottom marginal edges 16, as indicated at 44, for easily checking the envelopes while being stacked with the bottom marginal edges 16 positioned upwardly for successively passing the wire through the slots 32.

In order to prevent the letter or enclosure of the envelope from dropping between the slots 32, 34, 36 and 37 and thereby blocking the slots and preventing the wire from being inserted therethrough, the front and back sheets 12 and 14 may be cemented or secured together at their bottom marginal edge portions by a suitable adhesive, as indicated at 46, applied on the inner sides thereof.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that the envelope constructed in accordance with the present invention is provided with unique means for automatic sorting according to the destination either manually or mechanically. Also if sorted manually the improved envelope requires no particular skill on the part of the operator and any inexperienced person may be employed for sorting envelopes of this character thereby greatly facilitating and speeding up the sorting operation.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise, except as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A mailing envelope, comprising a sheet of iiexible material folded to provide a substantially rectangular front side and a back side extending from` a bottom edge thereof, said front side having a sealing ap at the top edge thereof and end flaps folded over to come upon gummed edge portions of said back side for attaching thereto, said front side having a plurality of elongated slots extending in said back side through a common edge thereof, the slots being disposed side by side for substantially the full length of said common edge, and said front and back sides having corresponding perforated unslotted portions along said common edge in lateral alignment with said slots.

2. A mailing envelope, comprising a substantially rectangular front sheet and a back sheet of flexible material, said front sheet having a sealing ap and oppositely extending side flaps folded over to come upon gummed edge portions of said back sheet for attaching thereto, said front sheet having an inclined end side and a bottom` side of greater length than a top side thereof, one of said sheets having a gummed bottom edge portion for attaching to the other, said sheets having a common edge formed with a plurality of substantially rectangular slots extending laterally therefrom, and said sheets having corresponding perforated unslotted portions along said common edge.

3. A mailing envelope, comprising a sheet of flexible material folded to provide a substantially rectangular front side and a back side, said front side having a sealing flap and end aps for folding over to come upon said back side having gummed edge portions for attaching thereto, said front and back sides formed with substantially rectangular slots in edge portions thereof adjoining each other and disposed side by side for substantially the full length of said edge portions, said front and back sides having the slots extending in a common edge thereof, said front and back sides each having a perforated unslotted portion along said common edge, and an adhesive layer on the slotted edge portion of one of said sides in the inner face thereof for securing to each other, whereby said sides remain separate above the edge portions with the slots therein for enclosing a letter therein.

4. A mailing envelope as defined in claim 3, and said front side having a sloping end edge adjoining one of said ilaps and a bottom edge having a greater length than a top edge thereof for aligning the corresponding marginal edges of envelopes stacked together.

5. A mailing envelope, comprising a substantially rectangular front sheet of flexible material and an integral back sheet folded thereover, said front sheet having an upper sealing-flap and oppositely extending side flaps folded over to come upon gummed edge portions of said back sheet for attaching thereto, said front sheet having an inclined transverse side and a lower longitudinal edge of greater length than an upper longitudinal side, said sheets having a plurality of rectangular open slots at spaced intervals in the lower side portion thereof, the slots in said front sheet being in registering alignment with the slots in said back sheet, said front and back sheets each having a hole between a pair of the slots in registering alignment with each other for indicating the destination thereof, said front and back sheets having gummed inner sides at the lower edge portion with the slots therein for attaching to one another thereby preventing a letter enclosed therein from blocking the slots and the hole therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 484,733 Flynn Oct. l8, 1892 2,482,080 Lacey Sept. 13, 1949 2,742,222 Braccio Apr. 17, 1956 

